One of my favorite museums in Buenos Aires is the Museo de Arte Hispanoamericano Isaac Fernández Blanco. (That’s a long name!) It’s located at Suipacha 1422 and is definitely worth a visit. True to its name, the museum has a nice collection of colonial Spanish-American material which are displayed in a very nice setting within the house.
The ground floor has a mostly religious theme. So, if you’re looking for that colonial feeling which you find in, say, Lima then this is the place to go in Buenos Aires. Be sure to wander down into the basement which also has an interesting assortment of domestic items used by upper class porteños of the day.
The museum regularly sponsors some very good photographic exhibitions. The photo exhibitions generally don’t have anything to do with colonial Spanish-America but provide a good reason to make recurring visits to the museum.
The house itself is worth a visit alone. But don’t be fooled into thinking that this is actually a colonial house. It was built in 1921 by architect Martín Noel, but he didn’t live in the main house. That belonged to his brother Carlos who was mayor of Buenos Aires from 1922 – 1927. Martín lived in the front part of the estate, the group of rooms that are part of the front wall. The brothers also had a famous neighbor that I’m going to mention in another post.
November 11th, 2006 at 11:09 pm
[…] For most who pass along calle Suipacha, the plain, unassuming house next to Palacio Noel goes unnoticed. Thousands of houses and apartments in Buenos Aires posses more charming exteriors. Of course, as with many buildings in the city, you never know what is behind the facade. In this particular house, decades ago, many of the leading artistic figures of Buenos Aires partook in the dancing and drinking offered by their charismatic host, a monumental figure in Argentine literature, the poet Oliverio Girondo. Serving as hostess for these fortnightly soirées, while cultivating her reputation as a coquettish seductress, was his wife the writer Norah Lange. […]
October 24th, 2007 at 3:41 pm
[…] chance to go inside the Casa Fernández Blanco (not to be confused with the building that is the Museo de Arte Hispanoamericano Isaac Fernández Blanco, which is in an entirely different place that also is well worth visiting). The Casa is located at […]